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Real investment in Cornish culture; do you believe Cornwall Arts Marketing?

Cornwall Council’s positive and supportive approach towards cultural services in the county has been praised by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.


The recently published South West Cultural Regional Commentary, produced by the Government Office South West in partnership with the Arts Council England South West, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and Sport England South West, praises the County Council for the effectiveness of its strategic planning for cultural provision.

The Audit Commission awarded the Council four stars for the quality of its Cultural Services last year and this report reinforces this positive judgement and highlights the many extremely effective partnerships between the Council and cultural agencies and organisations.

Eric Brooke (Lib Dem), the Executive Member for Community Services, said “We should be proud of the hard work that has gone into developing creativity, arts and culture in Cornwall.”

“ Artists, historians, volunteers, schools, creative organisations, District and County Councils have all worked together to produce something wonderful here in Cornwall. Something that we can all share, our Culture”

Outlining details of the Regional Commentary to members of the Community Policy and Development Committee, Chris Ramsey, Assistant Chief Executive for Communications and Libraries, said the report highlighted the excellent work and significant achievements in the cultural sector.

“The aim of the Commentary is to promote closer alignment of national, regional and cultural objectives and to strengthen and extend relationships between cultural agencies and local
authorities” he explained.

“Overall it paints a very positive picture of the approach of the County Council towards cultural services. It acknowledges that Cornwall recognises the important social, economic and environmental impact of culture for its citizens and praises the strength of leadership of culture in the Council. It also highlights the enormous amount which has been achieved with limited resources”.

The Commentary focuses on a number of key cultural services the Council runs itself or supports, including the Record Office, the Creative Unit, the Library Service, Museums, Sports and the Cornish Language. It looks at a six main areas - Achieving Objectives and Improving, Political and Managerial Leadership, Community Engagement, Partnership Working, Resource Generation and Investment and Performance management.

The Council receives particular praise for the quality of its partnership working. The Commentary identifies a number of examples of positive and highly effective partnerships, including those with the Creative Unit, Cornwall Arts Partnership, Creative Partnerships, KEAP, Tate, Combined Universities in Cornwall, University College Falmouth, the Library Service/ Adult Social Care and the WRVS, the Historic Cornwall Advisory Group and Cornwall Sports Partnership.

The Commentary also highlights the Council’s success in generating resources and attracting inward investment. “The Council has been proactive in attracting significant amounts of external funding and Lottery funding for the arts, including grants for Geevor, the Leach Pottery and Truro Library” said Chris Ramsey.

“It has also used Objective One funding to develop organisations such as Cornwall Arts Marketing, Creative Skills Partnership and Creative Kernow which have made a strong contribution to the arts sector in Cornwall. It is now looking to use Convergence funding to encourage future investment in culture”.

The Commentary also notes the contribution the County Council’s support for cultural services has made to improved quality of life in Cornwall, highlighting the success of a number of projects, including CYMAZ, the Arts in Health Project, the Home Library Service and the sustainable Community Strategy.

The report identifies three overall areas for future development :
• Need to identify the best structural arrangements for culture within the new unitary authority
• Clarify and strengthen the policy framework and strategic approach to culture
• Explore the role of culture in planning and improving mainstream services.